I have to thank the winter weather we had yesterday for a 2 day weekend! Sweet! First one I’ve had in a while! The job I’m on right now is a little behind so my company has had us working 6 8 hour days a week for the past 4 or 5 months, and just this week we went to 4 10 hour days (Monday-Thursday) and 2 8 hour days (Friday and Saturday) taking us up to 56 hours a week. Makes for a loooooong week, but it will definitely help pay the bills (Not to mention the $70 a week I use in gas!) Friday, just before knock off time, it started snowing here in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area. And, as always, people panicked, drove 5 mph, and my 45 minute commute home turned into 3 hours. Man, it sucked!!! I was raised on a farm in the middle of no where in north-eastern Pennsylvania and learned to dive in the snow from my father, who would take me out to an empty parking lot covered with fresh virgin snow, then point and say “learn to handle it son”. Man was it fun, and a little scary at times, but I learned to handle it. Which is more than what I can say for a majority of the people who live around here. I guess it’s not their fault though. It just doesn’t snow much ‘round here. They just need to learn that 4 wheel drive might help you go, but doesn’t help you stop! Anyway, I’m a little off track here. Blame it on the whiskey. Or not, whatever. lol

I finished my pegboard cabinet today! One step closer to my over all goal of being organized! Since my last entry I have been working on getting the frames for the sliding doors glued up a little at a time. After getting a new bottle of glue, since my last bottle kinda froze since I forgot to bring it in one night. Today I cut and slid the pegboard panels into the frames, finished the glue up and got ‘er done!

After I finished up the cabinet, made a couple tool racks, and got some more tools hung up (I can close my tool box lid now, with the tray in it!!!), I decided I needed a little more light on the new bench. I thought about installing the old track lighting above it like I had over my 2 other work benches, but instead I decided on something else. I put a french cleat all the way across the top of the back splash of my new bench, and made a holder for a swing arm lamp that I have. That way I can put light where I need it most, when I need it. And I could make a small shelf to hang on it if I feel I need to sometime down the road. I still might do the track lighting though if I find this to be in the way. Time will tell.

So, thanks to the snow and ice I was able to finish my cabinet, and tomorrow I will be starting on the lower part of the bench. The vertical drawers. The way I framed my new bench I have 2 areas to work with. One area is going to be a simple low shelf to store some of my bigger power tools (drill press, circular saw in it’s case, flooring saw) along with whatever else I can store in that area (plans always subject to change though). The other area is where I’m building the vertical shelves. It’s about 36 3/4” wide, and I don’t remember how high, but it’s a little over 2 feet deep. I am going to build 3 vertical drawers the full height and depth of the space beneath the bench. 2 of them will have a bin the full depth of the drawer at the bottom for tools in cases, and I have decided that the rest of the space will be french cleats. That will give me the most versatility for the space that I have. That way I can change it to suit my needs at any time. Be it shelves, storage bins, drawers, hangers, whatever. The third I think will be mostly drawers for organizing small parts. That one will be a challenge for me. It will definitely be a good opportunity for me to practice some joinery. I might end up doing a few rows of french cleats on that as well so I can change it up as the need arises. Maybe 2 or 3 rows of drawers on the bottom, then the rest french cleats. Not quite sure yet. I’ll figure it out tomorrow.